Brass alloy



Patented June 22, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRIEDRICH HEUSLER, OF DILLENBURG, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO THE FIRM F ISA- BELLENHUETTE GESELLSCHAFT MIT IBESCHRANKTER HAFTUNG, 0F DILLENBURG,

GERMANY.

BRASS ALLOY.

No Drawing. Application filed August 29, 1921, Serial No. 496,599, and in Germany February 2, 1917.

According to the present invention, a homogeneous alloy is produced containing a major percentage of copper combined with form-manganese and silicon,,the iron being evenly distributed throughout the mass when it solidifies after being cast.

This invention consists in adding silicon to manganese copper alloys containing iron so as to produce a homogeneous alloy: This to alloy has the further advantage that, when in the molten state, it becomes more fluid than a similar alloy, free from silicon and therefore flows more readily and is more easily cast.

According. to the present invention, I add the silicon for example to the ferro-manganese-copper or fuse it with copper, iron and manganese.

A specific mode of carrying out the invention consists in mixing silicon or 90% ferro-silicon with ferro-manganese-copper and fusing the mixture. Instead of 90% ferro-silicon I may use one having a higher iron content say 70% ferro-silicon.

When ferro-manganese is used containing 80% or less of manganese it is very difiicult or practically impossible to get a homogeneous ferro-manganese-copper-alloy, whereas if I use ferro-silicon according to 80 the present invention I can readily obtain a homogeneous mass. The amount ofsilicon may vary between fairly wide limits; I have obtained good results with as small an amount as 5% of silicon' in the alloy but the action of the silicon is more beneficial when an amount of 2% or more silicon is used, and the mass becomes practically ho mogeneous throughout if, 6% of silicon is present. I have produced alloys containing 4 as much as 12 to 13% of silicon which were also completely homogeneous.

As an example, to produce an alloy according to the present invention, I may take 28 .lbs. of ferro-manganese containing 80% manganese and melt it with 52 lbs. of copper. When in the molten state, I add 6 lbs. of ferro-silicon containing 75% silicon. The mass is then stirred so as to thoroughly mlX all the ingredients and then cast. The result will be a perfectly homogeneous alloy SBOIItfilIllIlg manganese silicon copper and 1I'0I1.

According to this process I can alloy ferro-manganese very rich in iron with cop per and ferro-silicon, and it is possible to obtain in this Way a brass containing almost any percentage of iron. This has an important advantage over the processes at present used for making a brass containing a large proportion of iron.

. In some cases where a greater amount of iron is to be desired, it may be advisable to add to the manganese-silicon-iron-copper alloy, other metals, for example, tin, zinc, or aluminum, whereby the capacity of the alloy for iron will be increased.

What is claimed is- 1. An alloy in the physical form of a homogeneous mass prepared from the following materials in substantially the maximum relative proportions specified: copper 37%, silicon 13%, iron 20% and manganese 30%.

2; A ferro-manganese copper alloy containing silicon in quantities of 0.5 to 13%, iron in quantities of 0.5 to 20% and manganese in a quantity of l to 30%. I

3. A copper alloy in the physical form of a homogeneous mass, including the following additional materials in substantially the maximum relative proportions, viz: silicon 13%, iron 20%, and manganese 30%.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

DRI FRIEDRIGH HEUSLER. 

